The present invention relates to food products and to their methods of preparation. More particularly, the present invention relates to a brown sugar substitute and to a method for making the brown sugar substitute, to an edible cookie premix, and to a kit for making cookies.
Production of brown sugar begins with harvest of sugar cane and extraction of sugar from the cane. In some instances, production of brown sugar begins with a harvest of sugar beets. In order to harvest sugar cane, sugar cane stocks are cut and are stripped of leaves. The stripped sugar cane stocks are transported to a sugar mill where cane juice is extracted from the sugar cane stocks by crushing, shredding, and passing the crushed and shredded cane stocks through a series of heavy rollers. The extracted cane juice is boiled and clarified, producing a thick syrup. The thick syrup is placed in a centrifuge and is processed until sugar crystals, which are known as raw cane sugar, and dark thick molasses, are obtained.
For some applications, the raw cane sugar is shipped to a sugar refinery, where it is washed to remove the molasses. The sugar is then dissolved into a sugar syrup. After filtering or other processing to remove impurities and/or any remaining coloring agents, the sugar is crystallized by boiling in vacuum pans. The crystallized sugar is then washed and centrifuged until granulated white sugar is produced.
At this stage, brown sugar is extractable from the sugar syrup. The brown sugar remains after the granulated white sugar has been removed. The brown sugar comprises fine crystals of white sugar covered with a film of colored and highly refined molasses-flavored syrup. In other brown sugar process embodiments, it is common to continue the refining process until all white sugar has been obtained. The white sugar is then mixed with molasses syrup in varying quantities in order to obtain a product which comprises fine crystals of sugar that are brown due to covering with a film of molasses-flavored syrup.
Molasses used in brown sugar production is also derived from cane sugar and beet sugar and may be sulfured or unsulfured. Edible molasses is, however, derived only from cane sugar. Beet molasses has an unpleasant odor and a bitter flavor and is not edible. Unsulfured molasses is produced from pure cane syrup and is preferred for some applications because of its lighter color and milder flavor. Sulfured molasses contains sulfur dioxide. The sulfured molasses is darker and has a strong bitter flavor.
Once produced, brown sugar is graded as yellow sugar, light brown sugar, or dark brown sugar. The flavor of the molasses constituent is more distinguishable in the darker brown sugars than in the yellow or light brown sugars.
Light brown sugar contains about 3.5 percent molasses. Dark brown sugar contains about 6.5 percent molasses. Brown sugar may have a molasses component in a concentration range of 8 to 10 percent. The molasses adds moisture and a distinctive flavor to the dark brown sugar.
Because of its crystal size, color and flavor, brown sugar is a desirable ingredient in baked and cooked foods such as peanut butter cookies and chocolate chip cookies. Brown sugar is also a desirable substitution for refined sugar in some cooked and baked food products. However, because brown sugar has an added moisture content, due to the molasses, brown sugar is susceptible to drying and forming lumps during storage because of a localized loss of the moisture in a stored brown sugar mass. In particular, air pockets in stored brown sugar facilitate lump formation.
The lumps are difficult to eliminate when the brown sugar is blended into a cookie dough or a muffin dough. Cookies or muffins baked from dough containing lumps have pockets of hard, unreacted brown sugar within the cookie or muffin or on the surface of the baked cookie or muffin. These hard particles are undesirable to consumers.
Attempts have been made to firmly pack brown sugar in order to remove air pockets which tend to encourage drying and hardening. These attempts have not been consistently and predictably successful.
Attempts have also been made to prevent lump formation in types of sugars other than brown sugar. For instance, powdered sugar is made by grinding granulated sugar crystals through varying degrees of fine screens. Powdered sugar is widely available in three degrees of fineness: 10xc3x97 is the finest and most common; 6xc3x97 and 4xc3x97 are progressively coarser. A size of 12xc3x97 is used in frostings. Because of powdered sugar""s tendency to lump, 3 percent cornstarch, or flour or wheat starch in a concentration of 2 to 5% is added to absorb moisture and prevent lumping.
Another attempt to reduce lumping is described in the Baum et al. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,917, which issued Oct. 17, 1972. This patent describes a process for making a free-flowing powdered sugar. The process includes spraying powdered sugar with melted shortening so that the sugar contains 3 to 40% by weight of shortening.
The Jaconelli patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,482, which issued Mar. 22, 1977, uses a different approach entirely and describes a process for making a dry, solid molasses in order to simulate a brown sugar. The process includes cooling molasses in a thin layer and precrushing the cooled molasses to form coarse particles and reducing the particle size.
These attempts to reduce or bypass the problem of lumping are not generally applicable to brown sugar because brown sugar lumping is related to a localized drying out of the brown sugar rather than a localized addition of moisture. There is then a need for an inexpensive ingredient that has the flavor and appearance of brown sugar but that does not form lumps in storage or when added to a dough or batter.